By:  Peace Patience Abiti

Why the shouts about youth vandalism, rape, armed robbery and other social vices in our country, Ghana today? I find it difficult to understand the Ghanaian men­tality towards our own lan­guages.

 

It is a belief that most of us think the teaching and learning of Ghana­ian languages at all levels of educa­tion is irrelevant to the life of the individual and national development. You will agree with me that we all think in our mother tongues before transferring into other codes because we learn from the known to the unknown.

 

Many hold it that, before children come to school, they have sufficient command of their mother tongue. Why then the need to teach and learn the language? Most people also con­tend that the Ghanaian language lacks literature and vocabulary to express modern technology, especial­ly at this computer age when everything is scientific.

 

Such people therefore contend that time and efforts that will be wasted on the teaching and learning of Ghanaian languages should be diverted to other subjects.

 

It is true that children can speak their mother tongue before going to school. This does not however mean they are literate in their mother tongues.

 

The Ghanaian language can also develop with time to reflect modern technology. After all no language is static. Languages are dynamic, vibrant and subject to change. New words for old ones give us new spellings and more realistic language forms to complement the use of machines in communication in mod­ern times.

 

Languages are seen by some people as only a means of communication through which people express them­selves and live with each other. However, I hold the view that chil­dren do not only live by language but learn through language. If they learn through language then the best lan­guage through which they should learn is their mother tongue.

 

Teaching of the mother tongue encourages the child to respect his culture and continue learning more about it. When the child loves the lit­erature of his language and express­es himself in it, it affects his behav­iour. He can also appreciate the culture of his people and make contribu­tions and improvement wherever the need may be.